Q&A: Graham Linehan, writer and director of The IT Crowd

Graham Linehan has written a string of popular UK comedy sitcoms, from Father Ted's eccentric group of Catholic priests on Craggy Island, to a grumpy bookstore owner in Black Books - and his most recent endeavour, The IT Crowd, about an IT support team located in the basement of a fictional London-based business.

With the second series of The IT Crowd done and dusted, silicon.com caught up with Linehan to find out more about the show and his experiences with techies…

silicon.com: Why do you think IT is funny?
Linehan: I don't think there's anything inherently funny about IT but I'm very interested in how the internet and related developments are changing our lives.

The sheer speed with which technology is accelerating our evolution is incredible, and I thought IT guys are sort of at the frontline of all that.

I originally thought the comedy might come from their having to interact with people who didn't understand technology at all, you know, the worst stories you hear from people operating support lines.

But that seemed sort of limited, and I didn't want to have loads of jokes about people not knowing what a monitor was, or whatever.

So in the end, the IT end of things became soft background. It's always there, so I don't really have to mention it - very much like religion in Father Ted.

Now the comedy comes a little more from the characters and the Seinfeldian situations.

Have you had any experience working within IT and, if so, are you drawing from that experience with some of the ideas in the show?
Guys come around every so often to fix my computer, and it's never comfortable. One guy came to my door, after speaking to me, and my wife opened it. He looked at her and said: "You're not Graham."

While we were sitting together at my PC I asked him why don't you get more IT guys making home visits and he said: "Well, most of them don't have the people skills."

Have you had any feedback from real IT workers?
Our studio audience - this time [on series two] and on series one - were 90 per cent IT people and they always seem to love it.

I'm sure there're a lot of IT guys who hate it. I remember one guy wrote: "Well, I work in IT and I don't read comics" - as if that proved anything. If the show was about him he'd have a point but the show is about IT guys who are like me, and I read comics.

Do you think the characters are a fair representation of IT workers?
Oh, gosh, no. But fairness isn't funny.

What research did you do for the show?
Very little. I did a lot of guessing, just as I did on Father Ted. I felt that - as long as I wasn't being offensive about anybody - I could get away with the lack of detail.

As I said, though, the detail isn't what interests me. Sitcoms - especially studio sitcoms - aren't about detail, it's all broad strokes.

Do you like technology and IT?
Well, I love my computers. Wouldn't be able to live without them, and broadband changed the way I do nearly everything, so yes, I guess.

It is frustrating when something goes wrong with my Mac or my PC because they're such a mystery to me, how they work.

What was your first computer?
Either a ZX81 or a Spectrum.

If you could banish one bit of technology, what would it be?
Tazers.

First the Catholic church, then a book store owner and now IT – what do you think will be a funny and relevant area to write about next?
A sitcom about the last survivors of global warming. I hope I have time to write it...

And is there going to be a third series of the IT Crowd?
Oh, yes.

Click here for more on the characters in the show - including photos of Moss, Jen, Roy and Richmond